A staffer to Rick Santorum is roiled in controversy as the Des Moines Register revealed parts of an email he wrote last summer questioning whether a woman could be president.

"The question then comes, 'Is it God’s highest desire, that is, his biblically expressed will,…to have a woman rule the institutions of the family, the church, and the state?' " Jamie Johnson, Santorum's Iowa coalitions director, reportedly wrote.

Pete Waldron, a former adviser to Michele Bachmann's presidential campaign, called the email 'a sexist strategy'. Waldron, who worked as Bachmann's Faith Outreach Director, also demanded that Santorum apologize and fire Johnson.

Johnson told MSNBC that the email was sent from his personal email account and was "blown way out of proportion."

The Bachmann campaign has complained before about sexism in the GOP 2012 race. In November, she accused CBS of sexism after an email leaked admitting that she probably wouldn't receive many questions during an upcoming GOP debate due to her low poll numbers. Waldron also told the Des Moines Register that while Bachmann was still running, several religious leaders complained "that a female could not be a civil magistrate."